"We are sad. People don't want to volunteer and fundraise like they used to."
These are the words of Margaret Ezzy OAM, who has decided with other members of the Camp Quality support group in the Manning Valley, that duties are getting 'too much' for them to handle with the number of volunteers declining.
"We are getting old now and we haven't got the number of volunteers we used to to be able to coordinate all of the fundraising events," Margaret said.
"We will continue to do some raffles and fundraising, but it just isn't like what it was."
The group has been around for 35 years in the Manning, dedicating its fundraising to support children and families impacted by cancer.
However, the combination of COVID impacting fundraising events, and a sense that 'people don't get involved in fundraising like they used to', has been a real hit to the group, says Margaret.
"Before COVID, we had around 45 members but now we have just 16.
"We used to cater for weddings, funerals, birthdays and events. They were fun at the time because we were younger then, but now we just can't do that."
We are getting old now and we haven't got the number of volunteers we used to to be able to coordinate all of the fundraising events.
- Margaret Ezzy, secretary of Manning Valley Camp Quality support group
The group has raised more than $480,000 for the Camp Quality charity since 2006, which has enabled the charity to provide programs and services free of charge to those who need it.
At a meeting on Tuesday, March 15 at Club West in Taree, the group discussed what its future looks like.
They concluded that rather than call it day, they will continue to do raffles from time to time.
"We are always welcoming new and younger members, but that just doesn't happen anymore.
"It is really, really sad. We are sad," Margaret said.
Taree's Betty Whitelaw, who passed away in 2016, founded the Camp Quality support group in the Manning Valley on July 25, 1986 during a meeting with 13 people in her lounge room. It was the first of its kind in Australia.
Since then, the group has held camps for the kids at Camp Elim, south of Forster, and catered for weddings, funerals, events, birthdays, club meetings to raise money for the charity.
They have ran countless raffles and fundraising events at markets, clubs, and shopping centres in and around Taree.
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